Biometric tablets, heat tents and a trip to the Spanish Grand Prix – this hasn’t been your average England training camp ahead of a June World Cup qualifier.
But the unique elements give you a pretty clear impression of how much Thomas Tuchel and his FA support staff are already in full planning mode for next summer’s World Cup. Even though the team haven’t qualified yet.
After a long season, and on the eve of eight England players heading to the Club World Cup for what could be another four weeks of football, it’s not ideal for anyone that each player was given the task of riding an exercise bike, in specially prepared heat and humidity chambers, to the point of exhaustion. “Go as far and as fast as you can,” was how Ivan Toney explained it to me. But also, there will be no better time for England between now and next June.
England’s players will swallow special biometric tablets whilst training in heat chambers during this week’s training camp in Spain, as Thomas Tuchel attempts to replicate conditions for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and USA.
From the very start, Tuchel has been honest about his intentions to do everything possible to help England win the golden trophy next summer. When the players are away with their country, the focus is entirely on the national team, and making it the strongest and most prepared it can be. And these opportunities are limited – there are only four more training camps after this one before the World Cup starts.
And so, with the players having eight match-and-training-free days after the end of the season, the first full day in camp in Girona presented a one-off opportunity to test individual resilience, see how the players coped with the specially-controlled heat and humidity, set to match conditions at the World Cup. As the players crawled off the exercise bikes, the biometric tablets were scanned to reveal internal core body temperature, so that going forward, individual preparation and recovery programmes could be planned for each player.
But, as important as the sports science is, the chance for Tuchel to really get to know his players, and for them to better understand him. An elite get-to-know-you opportunity, within the confines of one of Spain’s most luxurious golf resorts.
Tuchel has played padel with some of the players and FA staff; the golfers in the squad (Harry Kane and Jordan Pickford to the fore) have enjoyed playing a few holes on a course which, just a few days before, hosted Pep Guardiola’s annual golf day, and which is pitching as a future host of the Ryder Cup; Myles Lewis-Skelly and Bukayo Saka – we saw, as we pulled into the exclusive resort – had the freedom to roam the property on bikes. Both the Arsenal men were smiling and laughing with each other as they did so.
Thomas Tuchel spoke to the media after selecting his England squad, covering Ivan Toney’s recall, the plan for Trent Alexander-Arnold’s position, Ben White’s omission and what will happen with players going to the Club World Cup.
That all sounds very similar to the environment that Gareth Southgate worked so hard to create around the England team – one of comradery, fun and team spirit. And Tuchel clearly values, and is determined to nurture, that special atmosphere his predecessor began.
But it is on the pitch, and the ultimate squad selection, where you get the distinct impression that Tuchel is still uncertain.
He said in his first news conference that he wants to see fundamental change in the team mentality and resilience, and he is still clearly experimenting with his personnel to see who can best achieve that.
In his second squad announcement a fortnight ago there was no Harry Maguire, no Adam Wharton, no Liam Delap, no Dominic Solanke. We thought that might be a definitive statement about certain high-profile individuals, but on the contrary – Tuchel has said they are still very much part of his plans, but he wants to have a good look at other options in this particular camp, and he wants Wharton and Delap, especially, to focus on a big tournament with the under 21s, so that he can see how they fare for the first time on a big international stage.
So we should not perhaps read too much into his squad selection right now – and by extension, we should not try to glean any firm conclusions from his team selections for the World Cup qualifier against Andorra on Saturday, and the friendly against Senegal three days later. Tuchel will chop and change, he will try different systems and different players within those systems – he will continue to learn.
It is probably only when the next international breaks come around in the autumn that we will begin to get a clearer picture of what Tuchel’s philosophy is for his England, and which individual players are part of that philosophy. A philosophy which, ultimately, is about only one thing: winning the 2026 World Cup.
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